Daily Encounters

Daily newspapers - with bold graphic text and arresting hard- boiled headlines and sensational photographs became one of the defining media forms of the twentieth century. Public figures were central to the papers' appeal, and the lives of royalty, politicians and performers were all scrutinized. Yet the history of the photographers who captured these figures in print has been neglected.

Daily Encounters aims to redress the balance with a celebration of press portraits from the Golden Age of Fleet Street. It traces the emergence of a new breed of press photographer, often from working-class obscurity, who came to produce some of the most memorable images in the history of the medium.

From Charlie Chaplin caught taking a stroll through London, Winston Churchill inspecting bomb damage to Mick Jagger in handcuffs following his arrest and Lady Diana's early encounters with the paparazzi, these portraits have come to define our memory of the twentieth century. In his foreword, Bill Deedes, a Fleet Street journalist from 1931, remarks on the press portraits that he remembers most vividly.

With over 60 illustrations, this unique photographic history, will accompany the landmark exhibition Daily Encounters, Photographs from Fleet Street.

Published to accompany an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, London 5 July-21 October 2007.

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Roger Hargreavesis editor of the forthcoming International Journal of Photography and Culture. He was formerly the Education Officer for Photography at the National Portrait Gallery, where he curated the highly successful exhibitions Circling the Square and The Beautiful and the Damned .

Bill Deedes is former editor of the Daily Telegraph. His publications include Dear Bill: W.F. Deedes Reports .